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I recently came across an invitation for baby shower. I have mentioned below some terms mentioned in it on which i wanted some clarification/their meaning.

  1. Dhouhitran (and there was another word with a similar meaning. Not sure. If anyone knows, please provide the meaning for that too)
  2. Naazhigai
  3. Pumsavana
  4. Kanganadharanam
  5. SwasthiSri
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  • Guessing; Kankanadharanam is (time for) gold bangle ornament decoration. SwasthiSri: Auspicious person or Chiranjeevi
    – Narasimham
    Mar 4 at 23:43

2 Answers 2

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Dhouhitran is more commonly spelled as Douhitra (दौहित्र), and it just means the son of one's daughter. (Source)

Naazhigai is a Tamil word for 'twenty-four minutes (Source). It is one unit in a more complex time-counting system. I can't find any uses of it being used in a ceremonial context, but I assume that it has something to do with how long one has to do a certain action.

Pumsavana is a ceremony, part of the Shodasha Karma, that is done during a woman's pregnancy, traditionally to secure the birth of a male child. It is typically done when the mother's stomach is starting to become larger and the baby is beginning to show (Source).

Kanganadharanam is, I suspect, a variant of Kankana Dharanam. This is a part of the marriage ceremony, during which the bride and groom tie threads of saffron around each other's wrists. (Source)

Swasthi, or 'svasthi,' doesn't have much specific to birth ceremonies, as far as I can tell. But, it has several meanings in Sanskrit, including well-being, success, prosperity, luck, happiness, fortune, and welfare. (Source) 'Sri' was likely added on.

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  • How can pumsavana be done for male child specifically? It can also be a female child, right?
    – Newbie
    Mar 6 at 8:44
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    @Newbie - pumsavana is traditionally done for having a male child, but there may be an equivalent pooja for having a female child, I do not know.
    – CDR
    Mar 6 at 13:31
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Dhouhitran is daughter's son. Poutran is son's son. Both are grandsons. Also heard that Dhouhitran has full authority to do funeral rites for the grandfather/grandmother. Poutran has rights only to hold the oil-lit pyre stick.

Naazhigai is just a unit of time. I think it is equal to 24 minutes. Jamam is another unit of time of 3 hours. The first Jamam of morning is from 3:00 am to 6:00 am and so on.

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    Could you add citations?
    – CDR
    Mar 4 at 19:29
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